Man pleads guilty in beer-fueled Schmacked' antics in West Chester

WEST CHESTER – One of the men at the center of a beer-fueled “mass-disturbance” in a borough neighborhood this past spring apologized for the mayhem he caused, including overturning a car parked outside the party he had attended.

Jeffrey Shawn Kiely, 21, of Upper Uwchlan told Senior Judge Thomas Gavin that he had “changed my lifestyle” after his arrest on charges of riot and disorderly conduct in May, recognizing that his abuse of alcohol had resulted in serious problems. Weeks before the near-riot in West Chester, he had been found asleep behind the wheel of his car at a borough McDonald’s and charged with drunken driving.

“I am extremely embarrassed by my actions,” Kiely said, after pleading guilty to charges of DUI, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct. He said he had been expelled from West Chester University, where he was enrolled at the time of the party incident, and would soon lose his job as a delivery driver because of his DUI conviction.

He had completed in-patient treatment for alcohol abuse, and was continuing with counseling and trying his best to remain sober, his attorney, Dawson R. Muth of West Chester, told Gavin. He is now enrolled in Delaware County Community College and is pursuing a business major.

“This is a work in progress,” said Kiely.

As part of a plea agreement, Kiely was sentenced to two years probation, fined $300, and ordered to pay more than $5,000 in restitution to the owner of the car he helped overturn and his insurance company. Gavin noted that even though Kiely would share in the payments to the car owner with others involved, he would still have to work severeal months to pay off the costs of his criminal behavior.

“I hope that your parents have put you on a short leash, and that the bank of mom and dad is closed,” Gavin told Kiely. “You’ve got your feet in a hole you dug for yourself.”

In addition to the probation, Kiely will have to complete a prison term of 72 hours to six months for the DUI charge. He was given until Thursday evening to report to Chester County Prison.

The disturbance Kiely was at the center of occurred on May 4, when West Chester police attempted to shut down a large beer party that was being hosted by the owners of “I’m Schmacked,” an independent film and party promotion company at a house near the WCU campus.

Borough police had caught wind of the party prior to its start and had warned the owners and tenants of a house in the 400 block of South Walnut where the party was to be held to cancel it. But crowds of people who had heard about the party through “I’m Schmacked’s” Internet site began arriving at the location in mid-morning.

When police tried to disperse the crowd, a riot erupted, with those in the area disobeying police and creating havoc. In the melee, a car was tipped over on its side in the middle of the street by a group of people angry at the party’s cancellation. A number of people took photos and video of the mayhem, which were posted on the Internet soon after.

The owner of the car, identified in court as Michael McGuire of Broomall, told police that he had recognized a picture of Kiely – a tall, burly man known as “Jumbo” – when he saw the videos on line. He said he had gone to an apartment complex near the university where he thought people involved might be located, and spotted the man he knew as “Jumbo,” a member of the university’s Golden Rams football team.

McGuire told detective Robert Kuehn of the borough police, investigating the disturbance, that he approached Kiely and asked if he knew who turned his car over. “He said Kiely laughed and said, “Yeah, I did it.”

Kiely was arrested on May 6. Muth said that his client had been so intoxicated he day of the party incident that he had blacked out, and could not clearly recall much of what occurred that day.

Assistant District Attorney Michael DiCindio, who prosecuted the case, told Gavin that on April 6 at about 1:30 p.m., West Chester police were dispatched to the McDonald’s restaurant on East Gay Street for the report of a car blocking traffic in the driveway. There, they found Kiely asleep at the wheel. He failed field sobriety tests, and his blood alcohol level was later determined to be .184, more than two times the legal limit.

“You must know that this is something you are going to have to deal with for the rest of your life,” Gavin said of Kiely’s problems with alcohol abuse. The young man nodded that he did.

Last month, Alec Murray Davidson, 20, of West Chester also pleaded guilty to similar charges and was given the same sentences that Kiely agreed to. Unlike the six other men identified by police as causing problems that day and charged, Davidson and Kiely were denied entry into the county’s ARD program because they had been arrested for DUI prior to the incident.